This invention generally relates to text file processing, More specifically, the invention relates to methods and systems for processing text files used to communicate between applications or between an application and an end user.
Much of the communication between applications or from an application to an end user is in the form of text files. Examples are the traditional batch interface files that many “legacy” applications still use, and more contemporary formats such as html, xml and rtf. The latter are examples that indicate that text file interfaces will be with us for a long time.
The problem is that dealing with these files requires a great deal of application logic to parse the incoming text file and do something with the content, or to assemble application data and format it into an appropriate configuration.
There are three basic problems in text file processing. The first is how to describe and program for the structure of the text file. The second is how to achieve a mapping of data between the text file and the application (note that it assumed here that the application has some independent means, in this case EADP, of moving the data from some stored format such as a database). Inherit in this is the third problem: describing the flow of control needed to process the file. The structure of the text file inherently describes the sequence of processing needed to process it; however, organizing this structure into application logic is often a major source of application programming.